Julius Harling
CEO & Founder at graswald.ai
I'm thrilled to introduce Julius, the visionary Founder and CEO of graswald.ai, as the latest addition to our portfolio at
!In a previous edition of First Look, I discussed the transformative potential of immersive content, such as 3D and XR, as both a final product and a new interface for generative AI. Graswald is at the forefront of this revolution, addressing the costly challenge of 3D model production. Their innovative approach, powered by GenAI, slashes the cost of 3D content creation by over 95% while significantly enhancing visual fidelity. This leap forward is redefining the landscape of 3D media, transitioning from outdated methods to cutting-edge generative AI and NeRF technologies. Graswald isn't just creating 3D content; they're shaping the future of digital creation for both companies and individuals alike.
Julius's journey in the 3D world began in his teenage years, and since then, he's cultivated a global community of over 170k 3D enthusiasts who rely on his tools. His deep understanding of the 3D domain, combined with a compelling vision for the future and a proven track record, makes him an exemplary leader and a joy to collaborate with.
The below is a short conversation where Julius shares his personal story, the evolution of graswald, and the invaluable lessons he's learned as a young entrepreneur leading a groundbreaking venture in the 3D space. Enjoy!.
What is your story?
My early childhood has been very much shaped by art and all its different forms. As you know, I started experimenting in 3D when I was very young, but it wasn't to make money. It was to express myself, to play around with cool new visual things. And I was playing a lot of music as well.
The whole entrepreneurial aspect came later step by step. And I didn't really plan it. I didn't really notice it in the beginning at first either. I was driven and I'm still driven by mainly building something valuable, helpful and useful in an elegant way.
When I was a kid, I was a really huge animal nerd, essentially. So I was a big fan of animals and I started drawing them. And then at some point I started doing them, building them in 3D as a 3D model for a zoo simulation game, actually. So I learned how to do 3D for a computer game with animals in them. And that was my first time.
I started creating more 3D content and I published it online for the 3D community. And I got really amazing feedback from people actually wanting to download and buy my stuff.
What are you building at graswald?
We're all about making 3D as a medium accessible to businesses and individuals that want to use it without the really complicated technical hurdles that the 3D process still entails. I was a 3D artist myself. It's something that it's very manual that you need to learn. It's hard to automate, hard to scale as well.
And this is essentially the problem that we've been trying to tackle. And we started in this entertainment specialist field, building content and tooling to simplify the creation of 3D experiences, scaling this up, making things reusable, using templates to build something in an hour maybe that otherwise normally takes a couple of weeks in a five to ten person team.
We do believe that we're at a point where there is a huge need for 3D because it is such an exciting medium. The demand is really, really high but you can't supply it right now with current techniques and processes. So that's what we're doing, essentially making this scalable by letting brands do this in -house themselves with a tool that is really as simple to use as Canva, for example.
What are your core motivations fuelling your journey and passion for graswald?
First of all, I'm a very visual person. So anything that looks really good and that tells a story that has a visual impact, is really exciting to me. Allowing other people to do this much better and allowing a lot of people to create something really meaningful, that's a really, really cool feeling. That's a really fulfilling kind of thing and that's amazing.
When I was in school I always had like five different hobbies. I was doing almost everything. I was doing art, I was doing sports, I was doing politics, I was interested in almost anything. Essentially what I'm doing right now, founding a company and leading a company is little bit like having to do everything at a very high level. I can, you know, do things creatively. I can do writing, I can work with people, I can help other companies and businesses etc. There are so many things that I'm interested in personally that touch my role in ways that I didn't expect when I started that is really powerful and and yeah just an amazing experience.
What can people reading this help you with?
Any type of support is always nice, right? Even if it's just a “this is cool what you're doing, keep doing it.” We're doing this for people who want to use 3D, who want to build something cool with it. And they are there in the big businesses as well as like on the individual side. And that keeps us going, keeps me going.
Specifically, we're at a point where we're excited to get a lot of feedback for what we're building from companies big and small. If creating photorealistic content automatically is something that you would be interested in, we'd love to speak with you.
